Rob Lutes

PORT PERRY -- When Rob Lutes says, “I'm starting to write some happy songs that are about celebrating and appreciating the good things," one is tempted to beg him not to.

The Montreal singer/songwriter is just so good at writing a sad, reflective song. But unlike songwriters who write a simple 'woe is me' song, Lutes goes further, trying to understand the sadness and work it out in the song. He says it's largely a by-product of getting older and more mature, both as a person and as a writer, when "you figure out how to manage and cope.

"I don't have a lot of, you know... songs about incidents that happened, songs that don't have a bigger point to them," he says. "I write about bigger subjects."

Listen to Lutes’s wonderfully soulful voice when he performs with long-time musical friend Rob MacDonald at the Greenbank Folk Music Society's Feb. 22 show in Scugog.

Lutes says there are two parts to a person. The critical-thinking brain part and "there's always this other part that's standing back and sees the big picture." That's him as a songwriter in a nutshell, looking beyond what happened to why it happened and what it means. In the exquisite Things We Didn't Choose, he writes that, "we find ourselves in the things we didn’t choose."

It's a track off his sixth album, The Bravest Birds, which was very well-received critically.

He's working on his seventh disc, one which might feature some of those happy songs, and which he expects to release in the fall.

Lutes says some of his songs come about entirely, all at once, but "that's rarer and rarer" and most start with "a flash of a line or a melody and you follow it through to the end." The hard work begins after the initial inspiration, and Lutes says he finds a lot of songs he hears are close but not quite there lyrically.

"I like to push it to the point where I think it should be," he says.

He remembers attending a songwriters’ workshop where “the last guy who spoke just leaned into the microphone and said, ‘edit, edit, edit’” to fellow writers.

But Lutes says it’s become more difficult to put in the work with two little kids at home.

“I used to write a lot late at night but when I’m getting up early I tend not to,” he says.

Lutes is in the writing phase of the new record and says it "may be a bit of a departure."

He’s looking forward to playing Greenbank Centennial Hall again, known for its great sound.

“I just remember I played it solo a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the space,” Lutes says.

Lutes and guitarist Rob MacDonald have played together since 1997 and Lutes says while he’s not that well known, MacDonald is one of the finest guitarists in Canada.

They’ll be playing songs from The Bravest Birds, also “sprinkling in some older tunes” and perhaps “a bizarre cover.”

Listen to Lutes and get his music at roblutes.com.

The concert is at 8 p.m. at Greenbank Centennial Hall, north of Port Perry at 19965 Hwy. 7/12.

Tickets are $25 and available at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, P O E Design in Port Perry, or by calling Mogens Galberg at 905-985-8351.

Visit the group’s website, greenbankfolkmusic.ca, as the society continues to mark its 20th anniversary this season.